Accused molester waives hearing

        COVINGTON — Larry Eugene Howell, who is accused of sexually molesting numerous boys, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

        A Kenton County grand jury now must decide whether to indict the 40-year-old Erlanger man on nine counts of sodomy, trafficking marijuana within 1,000 yards of a school and possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor.

        Public defender Michael Williams has been appointed to represent Mr. Howell after Covington attorney David Bender withdrew from the case last week.

        Commonwealth Attorney Bill Crockett said he hopes to present the case to a grand jury within 45 days. Kenton County grand juries meet every Friday.

        The sodomy charges against Mr. Howell were filed after he was shot by the mother of one of his alleged victims. That woman, whom The Enquirer is not identifying to protect the identity of her son, has been charged with assault.

        The woman, who is free on bond, also is awaiting a grand jury decision on whether to indict her.
       

Fire dispatcher arrested in robbery

        BURLINGTON — A 29-year-old fire department dispatcher in Lexington was arrested late Tuesdayand accused of robbing a hotel near the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

        David Mark Cantrell, charged with first-degree robbery, is being held at the Boone County Jail on $50,000 bail.

        At 11:23 p.m., a man walked into the Courtyard by Marriott on Mineola Pike and demanded money. He told a clerk he had a gun and took the cash box, containing an undisclosed amount of money.

        A Boone County sheriff's deputy responding to the robbery noticed a suspicious vehicle, and had another deputy follow it. The second deputy pulled the vehicle over at Interstate 275 and Mineola Pike for a traffic violation.

        Mr. Cantrell, was driving and refused to let officers search the vehicle. He was held until deputies got a search warrant.
       

Bill would outlaw human cloning in Ky.

        FRANKFORT — A bill to outlaw human cloning in Kentucky emerged from a House committee Wednesday with strong support, but was denounced by a researcher who wants to create cloned babies.

        Absent from the hearing was Panayiotis Michael Zavos, the Kentucky reproductive researcher and advocate for human cloning. Mr. Zavos called the committee's action naive and misinformed.

        Mr. Zavos, who heads a Lexington organization that provides fertility services, wants to clone human babies for infertile couples.

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